Table #1 1949

Ilka Gedo made this undated drawing, ‘Table #1’, using ink on paper. Gedo was a Jewish-Hungarian artist who was deported to the Budapest Ghetto during the Holocaust. The image shows us a table, but it is more than a still life. In its stark simplicity, we can read Gedo’s personal history and the cultural trauma of her time. The table, a common household object, becomes a silent witness to the displacement and loss experienced by so many. The emptiness beneath the table and the bare surface could symbolize absence, the loss of home, family, and normalcy. This work invites us to reflect on how everyday objects can carry profound emotional and historical weight. 'Table #1' serves as a reminder of the importance of memory, and of bearing witness.